eigning
NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson grew up in Duluth, Minn., and got his
start in drag racing by helping his father campaign regionally with a 68
Barracuda Hemi car in both Super Stock A and B Modified Production. Heck,
when I was 10 years old I was on the racetrack with him, carrying water buckets
to cool down the car between runs, Anderson recalls. Thats
where I learned and thats where I progressed for four or five years.

Anderson has certainly continued
that progression up to the present, where he is well on the way to defending
his POWERade crown after winning nine of 12 events in the first half of this
season. Early in June, Anderson sat down with DRO at his Mooresville, NC-based
shop for an in-depth discussion of his career and the current issues facing
drag racing and Pro Stock in particular. Here, in Part I, Anderson describes
his career development and how he came to build a championship-caliber team

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DRO:
How did you get started in professional racing?

Anderson: My dad pulled back when he knew
the cost and the time for travel was starting to get crazy. He was trying to
raise four children and it was tough to do that. But when he pulled back I decided
that I didnt want to pull back. So he got me hooked up with a good personal
friend of his by the name of John Hagen, which was in 78 or 79.
I raced with John who ran Pro Stock in Division 5 against Warren Johnson.

DRO: How old were you at the time?

Anderson: I was probably 16 years old. In
between school and weekends Id run down there and work with him part-time
and during the summer when I was out of school I went to races with John Hagen
and as soon as I graduated I started doing it full time.

John was killed in 1983 at the national event in Brainerd. I was there, I was
part of his crew, and I saw it first hand right in front of my eyes and it certainly
knocked the wind out of my sails. That was the toughest thing I had ever been
through in my life. It knocked the desire to do it right out of me for the next
couple of years. For a couple of years I went back to work at my fathers
car lot and just worked on used cars. My father had a used-car lot and I would
do all the service work on the cars, engine work, body work, whatever it took
to fix up and sell the used cars.

I did that for a couple of years until I was at the Brainerd national event
in 1986 and I ran into Kurt and Warren (Johnson) and he asked if I was interested
in getting back into the sport. We had been racing against them. They were the
two main rivals in division 5, Warren and John, they kinda swapped off
and would win races between the two of them.

DRO: So you never went to college?

Anderson: Never went to a university, never
went to a college. Graduated high school and as soon as I graduated high school
I knew what I wanted to do and that was race. I started working full-time Pro
Stock racing then. Working on cars and working on clutches and rear ends, though
I never did a lot of motor work. I was a mechanical guy that did a lot of work
on cars whether it was street cars or race cars. Thats where it all started.

When I talked to Kurt a couple of years later he asked if I wanted to get back
involved and I said you know maybe it is time to come back in. I had decided
when I went away from the sport, if I ever did it again it was going to be with
one of the funded top teams. There were only three or four back then, Morrison,
Glidden, Warren, and one or two more.

I had learned racing with John Hagen when he was out competing with these guys,
he did really well, but it was always a struggle because we werent heavily
funded. We didnt have sponsorship back then. I decided right then that
if I ever got back into it would be with one of the top teams that had sponsorship
and could do it properly. Otherwise, youre just beating your head up against
a wall. I learned that at a young age and the opportunity with Warren set the
mold.

I was with Warren at the end of 86. I went down, checked the shop out,
and I was impressed so I thought I would give it a whirl. So I called my father,
told him I was moving to Atlanta, going racing and he said, Im behind
you all of the way. If thats what you want to do, Im behind you
all the way. It was tough on him because I did a lot of work at his car
lot for him, but it was what I wanted to do. It was what my father introduced
to me; the drag racing got into my blood. Ive never been a day away from
the racetrack since then.

DRO: Were you married at that time?

Anderson: No, I was single up until six years
ago. I lived a single life and to be honest with you, racing with Warren and
traveling and working on the cars, that was a seven-day-a-week job. It was tough
for people to be married. I saw that part of it; it was hard to take care of
your family.

For a lot of years until I finally decided it was time, I stayed single just
because it was better for that particular job. You could devote more time to
it and you werent cheating your family. I held off until I was 37 years
old before I finally got married.

Things are great now, I have and wonderful wife and great children, but a lot
of guys still pay the price because we work so much and travel so much. We work
in the darn shop seven days a week. Even on our off weekends when were
not racing were here working at the shop. Through all those years with
Warren I learned that you win the races at the shop. All the preparation you
do at the shop, thats where the race is probably won or lost. When you
go to the racetrack you have to execute and everything has to go perfectly for
you to win the race, but if you show up without your ducks in a row, without
power, without your car right, youre not going to do anything.

DRO: When did you decide to leave Warren and
what led up to that?

Anderson: I never really thought I would leave
Warren. I loved it there. He has a great facility, every bit as nice as this
right here and I knew that nobody else in the class had that type facility and
that type machinery at their fingertips. I felt lucky to have all this stuff
at my fingertips. Every day youd come to work and do something different.
Youd learn every day. You had the professor and all the equipment to learn
on and it was a neat play shop. You wanted to go to work every day, it was neat
and you had fun and you won races. Thats what the bottom line is, I love
winning races. We didnt go to a race ever thinking we werent going
to win.

I
worked for Warren for many years, but never had the desire to drive. I was happy
just working on the cars. Kurt and Warren and myself would work on Warrens
car in the early years there, and bottom line, there were three of us and we
all had our own opinions and our own ideas. We just flat didnt agree on
much. We were different type people. Over the years I had gained confidence
and I would put my two cents in and of course they were the bosses, they were
the men, the guys, and they had their two cents. When we got to where it was
the three of us with different ideas we would fight and talk and couldnt
come to a good in the middle agreement. And we struggled for a bit.

Kurt and I would always pick on the one that lost the race because he was late
all the time. How come you cant have better reaction time? How come
you did this? How come you did that? We didnt know any better; we
had never driven one of these things you know. So finally, after years of this,
Warren said, Thats it! Im tired of listening to you guys tell
me how easy this is, why dont I do this, and why dont I do that?
Im sending both of you guys to Roy Hills Drag Racing School. Youre
going to get in these cars and youre going to see just how hard it is
to drive these damn things. And also that should help you to tune these cars
better because youll see it from both sides and if you see it from both
sides then youll understand whats going on with these cars.

So, it was his idea to send us to Roys school. It was back in 91,
92, or 93. I should remember the year, but thats when he sent
us. We went a week apart; Kurt went the first week, I went the next, and both
of us from the day we came home from that school knew we wanted to drive a Pro
Stock car. Hes what started it all. We probably both had somewhere in
the back of our minds maybe the hope that someday we would drive a car, but
it wasnt a priority. But ever since we went to that school we got the
bug and it wasnt a matter of weeks when Kurt got out of school he went
and found him a ride. He just had to do it. He got a ride from the Scrimner
brothers and another ride from Jerry Haas or somebody the next race. He just
begged, borrowed, or stole and got rides in each race and thats how Kurt
got started.

DRO: Did you start looking for a ride right
away, too?

Anderson: Well, I just couldnt do that.
I was working on Warrens car full time and I didnt have the leverage
to do that. I kind of had to bide my time and hope that one day I would get
the opportunity. My hope was that one day I would get the opportunity to drive
Warrens car; that someday he would retire. He was getting on up in age,
even back then, and many times he said that he didnt want to do this any
more and wanted to put someone else in the car. That went on for years and years
when he said that.

I kept thinking that could be me, and I finally came to him and told him, Look,
I want the opportunity to do this or to take over for you when you pull out,
but I know that youre not going to consider me if I have no previous experience
when it comes time to make that decision. Somehow in the next couple of years
I need to start getting some experience.

So
I asked him if it would be all right for me to be doing some of the testing
of his car when we go out and make some test laps, so he could stay in the shop
more, where he is more valuable. He kinda agreed to that, but as the years
went on it never happened. Time just went on and Kurt had become a full-time
racer by then and I came to the conclusion that there is already two here and
theres not going to be three. And I had heard Warren say for years that
he was going to quit driving, but I finally realized hell be in the grave
before that happens. So I finally decided that if I do want to try this, at
least see if I can really do it, Ill have to go elsewhere to do it.

I met my wife about the same time and her father Troy Humphrey raced Pro Stock
part-time. He had Ricky Smith and Mike Bell driving his car for a couple of
years each. When I married Kim he offered me an opportunity to come drive his
car. That would have been in 98 when Mike Bell was still driving his car
and Troy said hed run two cars with him in one and Mike Bell and I both
drove for about a half of a season in the other one and then Mike moved on somewhere
else and I took over Troys car. That was my opportunity, thats where
it started and hey, Ill be the first to admit that when I started I stunk.
I wasnt any good at it.

DRO: When did the decision come to put together
your own team?

Anderson: A couple of years later, I raced
for my father-in-law a couple of years and we just couldnt find any kind
of sponsorship and we couldnt race but six or seven times a year with
the budget we had and we couldnt compete.

DRO: Were you at least qualifying?

Anderson: Sporadically, not every race, but
I was qualifying at some. The next year I was qualifying most of the time, but
not able to win any races or anything like that. Then the last year of the arrangement
with my father-in-law we joined up with Mark Pawuk and ran a second car for
Mark. Troy still had his truck and trailer and I drove the car, but I actually
helped Mark and that was when he brought in Rob Downey as his crew chief. He
kinda brought me in to bring Rob up to speed faster. So for a year I helped
Mark and drove Marks second car. That was 2000 and we did not win a race,
but we did get three or four runner-ups. So I could see that I was progressing
and getting better. I told Warren the day I walked out, that if I go and see
that Im not cut out to do this, Ill be back knocking on your door
within a month wanting my old job back and Ill be satisfied the rest of
my career working on your car.

I didnt have any success to start with, but I could see that each time
I went somewhere and got in a car I progressed. If I hadnt seen that progression,
then I would have bailed out.

DRO:
But you were getting more comfortable.

Anderson: Yeah I was getting more comfortable.
Things were getting better and the next year I moved on to a position with George
Marnell as his crew chief and the races that Troy wanted to run, we got a motor
from George, just like we had been doing previously with Mark. We were using
Bob Ingalls motors. That was sort of a tie in; you go work on their car
and in the meantime help them race this year. Ill foot the bill for the
travel and the motor rental and whatever it takes, and youll still work
for them and drive my car, so thats how that worked.
In that year with George, Ken Black was a partner with George. I worked 2001
as a crew chief on Georges car and drove Georges second car, which
was the black Firebird and we won two races, at Bristol and Indy.

DRO: Is that when you first met Ken Black?
(Editors note: Ken Black is the owner of Vegas General Construction, Andersons
primary sponsor before he signed on with Summit Racing Equipment shortly after
this interview was taped.)

Anderson: Yeah, things were really progressing
then and getting better and thats where I met Ken and Ken decided, Ive
been doing this deal with George for six years and really never had any success,
any race wins. Then this knucklehead comes in here and within the first year
with our backup car he wins the biggest race of the year. Maybe I need to start
something with this guy. Thats how it all transpired. It was kind
of a rough deal for George because at the end of the year Ken told him he was
going to go his separate way and start his own team and he was going to take
me as a driver. So George kinda felt stabbed in the back because Ken took
me away from him.

But Ken had done it for six years already for George and he was really on his
last year. He was ready to retire; he had had enough and had spent enough money
and when this all happened Kens son got interested. He was the one that
convinced Ken to go on his own and start his own team. It really wasnt
Kens decision on his own.

He had nothing against George and I surely didnt try to steal Ken away
from George; it was all their deal and they begged me to come drive their car.
In 2002 we started up our own team with

Ken Black Jr. and Sr. as team owners. We bought all new equipment and new racecars
and moved to Charlotte and set up a shop in part of the Jerico Transmissions
building.

DRO: What made you choose Charlotte?

Anderson: I moved to Charlotte because where
I was living in Jacksonville, NC, it was on the coast where theres not
even a freeway within an hour from there. It was too hard to drive in and out
of and too hard to fly in and out of. We had to drive two hours to Raleigh just
to get an airplane. It was just too hard getting in and out of the city; you
couldnt find any kind of racing part around town; and every time you needed
something you had to call around the country and get it shipped in next day
or two-day or whatever it took. I finally came to the conclusion that if I was
going to do this full time and for a living and do it right, I needed to be
somewhere more centrally located where I can have access to race parts.

One of the considerations was Atlanta because I had several good years there
with Warren. It was a good place to race from, Indy was a good place, or Charlotte
was a good place, and Charlotte happened to be closer to my wifes family
so we elected to come here. When I came here I got lucky with who I ran into
with Jason Line and Joe Hornick, my two head engine builders. I met them by
accident.

They worked for Joe Gibbs Racing and heard that a drag racer came to town,
so they came over and met me one night just to see the operation because they
are old drag racers. They were working in Winston Cup then, but finally, when
a drag racer came to town they had an interest again. Thats where it all
started with them. Theyve been great for me; they have great knowledge
from their years of working in the Winston Cup world with the big budget theyve
got over there. Its really been great for me. This location has ended
up being good for a lot of reasons, not just the travel coming in and out of
here.

DRO: How did it feel to finally be a full-time
Pro Stock racer?

Anderson: It was great. The first year with
Ken Black Jr. and Sr. I won two races, had several runner ups, and finished
third in points, so obviously we were on the right track. I had a great team
owner who really didnt try to scrimp on things. We didnt squander
money; we didnt throw a lot of money away; but he spent what it took to
do the thing.

The next year I completely changed my crew. I brought in Rob Downing and Jeff
Perley. I had had Mike Stryker and Pat Barrett, who were both Warren Johnson
disciples, just like I was. They were great guys, smart guys, and they were
great car tuners and track tuners, but for some reason we just didnt gel.
We didnt hang out together or socialize together; the chemistry just wasnt
there. We had finished third and everybody saw how we got better as the year
went on and that we were going to be a heck of a threat the next year and then
I completely changed the whole team for the next year. It was a risky move and
a lot of people did not understand it, but the chemistry was not there and I
didnt see that it was going to be there so I made the change.

I
had worked with Rob Downing the year I worked with Mark and I knew we would
get along, and Jeff, I had known him from when I was at Warrens. So I
brought in those two and I brought in Jason and Joe full time and a couple of
other part-time people and that is when it all took off. The chemistry was all
of a sudden there and we went and won the championship and won 12 races last
year. Hopefully, well do better this year. Since we started this team
it has gotten better and better, and hopefully it will continue. The chemistry
is the main thing.

DRO: Jason got his first ride in your second
car toward the end of last year. Was that part of the deal in him coming to
work for you?

Anderson: That wasnt part of the deal
in the beginning. The only deal I had with Jason was that he would come over
in the evenings two or three nights a week and dyno the engines. He was the
head dyno operator at Gibbs, so thats what he did and he was having a
ball with it. Hes a drag racer; hes not a round tracker but a drag
racer. He had a great job over there, great opportunity. He had access to all
this high-dollar equipment, a $2 million dyno he ran over there. It was a dream
job. But he loved drag racing and he had raced door cars all of his life. Most
people like that, their ambition or goal in life is to some day drive a Pro
Stocker, just like your alcohol dragster driver someday wants to drive a Top
Fuel dragster. The door car guys stay with the door car guys and the dragsters
stay with the dragster guys.

He just never thought he would have an opportunity and when he came over here,
well you know they do real well in the round-track world; they get paid a lot
of money and drag racers just dont have that budget. We just cant
go hire people away from Winston Cup teams by paying them more money.

So I didnt steal Jason; I had to have him want to come over. We hadnt
really considered adding a second car yet, but we finished third in points and
said, You know what? For the last several years in a row no single-car
team has won the championship. Theres Jegs two-car team, Warrens
two-car team, and so forth. Yates was the last one that did it, but even he
had several sorta team cars helping him, if youll recall. No single-car
team had done it recently, so we decided that maybe we needed a second car.
So I offered Jason, if he were willing to leave Gibbs and come full time I couldnt
pay him as much or more than they were paying him, but I offered him the ride
and thats what it took. That was the carrot it took to get him out of
there and over here full time.

Thats where it all started and the bottom line is the guy had already
won Stock Eliminator championships and Im a firm believer that if you
can win in one class, you can win in another. There are people who seem to separate
themselves from the pack and I was sure he could win in this class. It would
just take him a little time to learn the ropes and get adjusted to the speed,
but I knew eventually he would be a good driver.

DRO: But his debut race didnt turn out
so well

Anderson: Yeah, we started it last year and
his first race was Columbus in a brand-new racecar and we only had four or five
test laps on it and we thrust him into the seat right away too early. We got
to the worst racetrack weve ever raced on and he flips the car. It was
just bad circumstances. It was our fault for putting him in the car, a brand-new
untested car. It was NHRAs fault for the track being that bad, and it
was his fault for being inexperienced and not knowing he had to get out of it
when he had a situation like that. He didnt know you had to have a lot
of respect for these things. He figured you could steer it out of anything,
but you cant. You dont drive these things; they drive you.

It all ended up a catastrophe, but who knows? Maybe it will turn out to be
the best thing that ever happened to him because most people dont get
that lesson right away and they push it and push it until finally they do something
and go over the edge.

DRO: Did you have any second thoughts about
Jason then?Anderson: None. It didnt shake us up.
We just went back and had another car built. We tested it better this time and
we started at a track that we knew would be safe and a little slower for him
and then we went to another good track and kinda eased him up this time.
We only let him run four races so he would still be eligible for rookie of the
year this season. Were geared up for the full deal this year and weve
progressed at every race with him, way ahead of schedule and hes already
winning.

DRO: Jasons a big guy to be driving
a racecar. Did that give you any concern?

Anderson: He is a big guy. When he came in
he was 20 or 30 pounds heavier, but you need that weight in these cars for balance
to move around. So he went on a diet right away and he did what it took and
he got down in weight. If he wants it that bad, that showed me he'll do whatever
it takes.